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Hongō Masamune
Hongou Masamune is a second year student of Komadai Fujimaki. He is the ace of Komadai Fujimaki's baseball team and is touted as the young phenom pitcher of the Hokkaido Prefecture that is the best of his generation. Appearance Hongou is a tall individual with a somewhat muscular built and is dubbed t''he big and strong youth of the North (北の怪童)'' by the media.Act II - Chapter 4. He has short dark hair, dark blue eyes, and always has a gruff or uninterested look on his face. Character Hongou has a serious, yet intense personality. He hates losing to anyone and is often dismissive or outright rude towards others. He shows resentment towards his coach Nitta and seems to dislike the media. History When he was in Junior High, he's heard of Furuya Satoru, who has faster pitches than he does. He and close friend Renji, wanted to play against Furuya in middle school but unfortunately, didn't happen. They got to see Furuya in action during the Meiji Jingu and also expected to play against him in the Final but again missed the chance after Seidou lost in the Semifinal to the eventual runner-up Houmei High.Act II - Chapter 6 Plot Act II (84th)Spring Koshien Hongou is first seen reading a book in the hotel while his teammates watch the telecast of Seidou's first round match. A teammate asks him if he finds the book more interesting than the match. Before he can answer, their coach, Nitta Kouzou enters to give instructions and tells Hongou that he'll be the relief pitcher in their upcoming match. In Komadai's first round match, in the bottom of the fifth, Komadai leads with two runs and Hongou is sent to pitch. After the three outs change, his coach comments on his performance to which Hongou gets angry at but is held back by catcher, Renji. Quarterfinals In the match against Seidou High, Hongou starts for the first time in the tournament. He throws a 150km/h fastball right off the bat at Kuramochi and took Seidou's lead-off down with his Splitter. He then proceeds to strike-out both Toujou and Haruichi with just three pitches.Act II - Chapter 5 Hongou then continues to shut Seidou down, after his team scored two early runs off Furuya. At the top of the fifth, Seidou High is yet to make a hit. At-bat is Furuya and Hongou vents out his frustrations, striking Seidou's ace out. At the top of the seventh, Miyuki gets the first hit off Hongou. Furuya bats next sending the ball between first and second. Miyuki advances to second but Furuya is out at first thanks to Komadai's captain's fine play. The captain, Nishi Hideo, apologizes to Hongou for failing to get the double play, Hongou points a thumb to himself then turns away. Act II - Chapter 7 And at the top of the ninth, Hongou cleanly closes out the game handing the win to his team, delivering Seidou a complete game Shut-out. At the line-up, Furuya offers to shake hands with Hongou and despite being reminded by his teammates, Hongou walked away, disregarding the gesture. Semifinals In the semi's versus Hakuryuu, Hongou did not pitch but Hakuryuu's lineup is shut down to five hits. Finals In the finals, Komadai faces Seiseisha. From a newspaper article, Hongou displays masterful pitching, raking up 12 strikeouts while holding Seiseisha to only 3 hits and delivered yet another Shut-out victory. He also impresses with his batting and Komadai wins their third major tournament.Act II - Chapter 11Komadai has previously won the 89th Summer Koshien and the Meiji Jingu. Skills Hongou is a power pitcher, being able to throw fastballs reaching 150 km/h and topping out at 151km/h. Hongou's arsenal includes the Slider 'and his well-known winning pitch, the 'Splitter. Hongou was said to possess exceptionally good control for a power pitcher, capable of locating his pitch to inside and outside corners easily right from the starting inning. Unlike Furuya who relies primarily on fastball, Hongou mixes up between the Fastball and the Splitter frequently and to devastating effect and he doesn't shy away from revealing the breaking pitches early to the lead-of runner. Perhaps Hongou's greatest strength is his high intensity which allows him to stay focus right from the start and his ability to channel his frustration to enhance his pitching. It is said that the more stress he builds up the better he performs. Different from other pitchers who may have moments of weakness throughout the course of a game, Hongou is able to maintain his high intensity throughout a full game, constantly staying focused while not overconfident which allows him to raise his already high level repeatedly as the game continues. Trivia * Hongou is said to have pitched toe to toe against Mei in the Koshien Final in his first year. Act II - Chapter 2 * His pitch speed was in the high 140s in his first year. He topped out at 151 km/h in Senbatsu and has been consistently hitting 150 km/h and over in his second year. * Hongou did not lose a single run en route to winning the Spring Koshien title. Gallery Hongou1.jpg|Hongou Masamune Hongou-0.png|Hongou game face on Hongoucoverpage.jpg|Hongou on a colored cover page Hongou3.png|''Baseball Godsend'' Hongou pitching.png|Heading back to the dugout Hongou_splitter.gif‎|Striking out Toujou with a Splitter Hongou2.jpg Hongoufuruya.gif|Striking Furuya out Quotes * "The one who is playing is me, bystanders should keep their mouth shut!" * "We haven't come from Hokkaido to have fun playing baseball. We're here at Koshien to seize the Championship Pennant. How can some weakling city boy like you possibly stop us!" - to Furuya References Category:Male Characters Category:Pitcher Category:Characters Category:Players Category:2nd Year High School